


Purple Necklace

by Cicironi



Category: Purple Necklace (AP Lit BQB)
Genre: Multiverse, Short Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-14 04:21:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16485833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cicironi/pseuds/Cicironi
Summary: A short story of two lives that should have been the exact same, but one small mistake at such a young and innocent age changes her lives forever.





	Purple Necklace

A marshy night at the end of July saw the end to a distasteful day to most in the city, but a woman laid screeching on a broken table in a rundown hospital about to experience the best moment of her life. Her father stands beside her, chanting a ritual with the family’s purple-stone necklace in his hand. Her mother is in the hallway trying to find the woman’s husband. The husband’s mom is sneering to her husband. The chanting sped up, the screaming got louder, the panic rose: then the baby girl entered the world. Just as she met the world, the necklace split in two , along with their realities. No one noticed, nothing changed. They all lived the same lives, not knowing of the other reality lapping over theirs.

The girl grew up. It was her birthday. Her dad was gone again. Her mom was getting high again. She was alone. The same girl in both realities had the same day, just as they always have; however, the girls of different realities, let’s call them A and B, slowly grew different attitudes. Who knows why? Only God knows. It just happened that way. It was a small difference, but enough, they were still young.

The girls were twelve. It was during the dead of winter, not too far off from Valentine’s day. They sit at their identical wooden tables in their dark lit, smoke filled kitchen. Their mom drops a thick envelope on the table, they don’t know what’s in it, but they have a slight idea from what their mom smells like. Their dad walks through the screen door for the first time in weeks. He demands some cash, the mothers say no, he pulls out a gun. The girls stop and stare. “It’s not like you’ll do anything about it.” He slurs. Both girls lunge at him, he too drunk to hold on, and they take the gun and point it at him. He drunkenly stands up, “Whatchu gonna do ‘bout it? You’re not gonna shoot me.” He goes to slap the girls but they cock the gun. They pull out their phones and they’re going to call 911, but they hesitate just too long. Their dad lunges. Girl in A shoots for his legs and calls 911, girl in B is too scared and angry to look. Her mom, too high to understand, calls the police on her daughter. Girl in universe A watches her father be put in prison and her mother put in rehab. She moves in with her mom’s parents. Girl in universe B sits in juvie for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; her mom doesn’t go to rehab, she was just in shock of her daughter’s violence. No one’s there for the grandparents.

The girls are 18 now.  In A, she helps her mom move her grandparents in with them while she recites her valedictorian speech in her head. In B, the girl hangs out at the gas station while her mom goes through her mourning process- her grandparents got too sick and died. Nighttime comes and the girls are at the school. B is in the back of the auditorium watching her friends and classmates walk on stage. She goes outside for a smoke break. In A she stands on stage nearly in tears seeing all of her friends and (kept) family crying for her. She delivers her speech. Everyone cheers.

She walks outside with her friends and family, all cheering and celebrating as they walk through the parking lot. They want to

**She storms outside, alone, and gnawing on her half lit cigarette butt. She pulls it out of her mouth and tosses it on**

go to dinner. “I’ll be right there, I just need a minute.” She walks off the parking lot and onto the sidewalk. Each step she takes feels a

**the ground.  She stomps on the concrete parking lot, not noticing the slight rumbling in the ground. Every step she takes**

breath of energy coming in. The purple necklace sways side to side as she practically jumps in glee to the mini bridge over the creek

**feels another huff of anger. The purple necklace sway side to side. Her feet feel heavier and heavier as she travels to the**

running through the woods and under the road. The necklace glows. Each pump of her foot shoots a shoot from the grass, flowers

**ridge to sit and think before she does anything stupid. Her necklace glows. A steady pace of crunch and rumble goes**

emerge and trail her. As she feels more energy, which is increasing by the second, more flowers and vines and, eventually, butterflies from

**unnoticed by her. The more anger and raw energy she feels, increasing by the second, the deeper the rumbles, then cracks**

around her. Light emits from her. She doesn’t notice until she stops at the bridge. She’s confused, but for some reason, completely ok.

**form. Dark light emits from her. She doesn’t notice until she stops at the bridge. She’s confused, but feels immediately**

She breathes in, closes her eyes, raises her arms, and takes herself to her mental paradise. When she opens, the broken concrete, the trash

**empowered. She breathes in ,closes her eyes, raises her arms, and yells as deep as she can. Something shifts underneath**

littering the ground, the mysterious deathly smell all disappear; bright concrete, plant and insect life, beautiful floral smell, appear. She  

**her and she smirks; she opens her eyes and everything around her is destroyed. The only thing that stays is the road,**

realizes now- she has powers. A car drives by, she pays no mind. Then she hears a screeching. She whips around and the car is rolling and

 **but that’s because she’s almost on it. She relishes the moment, then a noisy car approaches.** **_No, I’ve always had it picked for_ **

about to hit a family walking by. She cries out and throws her arms to warn, but the car flies up then lands safely and softly

**_Now we’re doing it my way. She cries out and throws her arms and the car goes flying and rolls. She didn’t hear the_ **

down. She has the power of nature.

 **_screams,_ ** **she was already plotting. She has uncontrollable power.**

  


Two years later and the girls are in college. Girl in A used her powers to clean up her neighborhood and, despite having could

**Girl in B used her power to get money to get by, but she’s smart- she knows she can’t show anyone her powers. Then she met**

pick practically any school she wanted, she goes to community college to stay close to her mom and grandparents. There’s a guy in almost

**a guy at her college. He wasn’t too handsome, he had a dorky laugh, but there was something that she was hooked on.  She**

all her classes she always noticed but could never understand why. He wasn’t too handsome, he had a dorky laugh,

**didn’t  want to use her powers when she was around him. They only had one class together- biology- and their inevitable**

but there was something that she was hooked on. Then she was paired with him in biology for a genetics lab. The lab would last for about

**paths crossed when one day she was paired with him for a genetics lab. The lab would last for about six weeks, and by the**

six weeks, and by the end of it, they were already together. Summer was coming up and they found out they were transferring to the same

**end of it, they were already together. Summer was coming up and they found out he was transferring to a university and she**

university. They thought, “Why not?” and got married the day their final semesters ended.

**dropping out. She was going to follow him wherever he went to school so they thought, “Why not?” and got married the day their final semesters ended.**

Six months later.

Both girls in both universes are walking back to their car from dinner. They both have excited, yet life changing, news. It may or may not completely halt their plans, but they know they’ll be able to work through it. All three of them. Well, counting both realities, all six of them.

Girl A grips tight to the umbrella, it wasn’t storming like this earlier. Luckily dinner was already over.

**Girl B slips loose the umbrella, it wasn’t storming like this earlier. She dashes for it across the**

Her husband fumbles in his pocket for the keys. He finds them and goes around the parked car to start it.

**street. Her husband grabs the keys while he waits and goes around the parked car to start it.**

She watches him lovingly, this was the man she’d spend the future with, her life with. He’s kept her strong.

**She stands across and watches him lovingly, this was the man she’d spend her life with. He kept her good.**

The atmosphere changes. Both necklaces start glowing and they don’t know why. They get a feeling: They drop the umbrellas. They try throwing their arms, they scream. It’s too late. Their husband opens the car door on the street but doesn’t get in before a barreling truck sees him. Time stops.

 _No._ **_No._ ** _No._ **_No._ ** _NO._ **_NO._ ** _NO!!!_ **_NO!!!_ **

The both face where their husbands just were. At the same time, the double over, screaming

“NO!” **“NO!”** “NO!” **“NO!”** “NO!” **“NO!”** “NOOO!!!” **“NOOO!!!”**

Like time, everything halts with flashes of purple. The women still scream, their eyes closed. They hear their own echoes, but they don’t care. When they stop to take a breath before screaming again, they see purple lights emitting from across them. They look up. They see themselves, but they aren’t them- they look _different._ The one still standing in front of the restaurant looks polished, sophisticate, almost wealthy. The one across the street looks like a high school dropout a sugar daddy. Yet they were identical in every other way.They close their eyes, they think they’re crazy. Foliage launches the trunk across the city, who knows where, and a massive earthquake strikes right across the street. The necklaces grow up, then yank the girls across the now-concerned road and attach them for a moment, just enough to know who the other person is, then it forces them apart with a blast. Girl from A now knows the one from B and expects an attack, so she prepares as soon as she lands. Girl from be prepares for an attack as soon as she lands.

“This is YOUR FAULT!” Each one hurdles at the other. B runs in for the attack, A grounds herself to prepare. They were so similar at one point, then, in a split second, were so, so different.


End file.
